Coming into God’s presence either warms or burns!
Homily preached November 13, 2022
by Monsignor Michael Deering

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 20 years since Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated in the sky over the state of Texas ... on its way to landing in Florida.

The whole world gasped as the video was played over and over on TV ...

showing the multiple vapor trails against the clear blue sky indicating that

Columbia had come apart in the sky and would not make it safely to the ground.

All 7 Columbia Crew Members died in that tragic accident on February 1^st 2003.

What happened?      That’s what everyone wanted to know?

Well, after months of study and analysis, NASA determined that the disintegration of Columbia was caused by damage that the Shuttle had sustained 16 days earlier during its launch when a piece of foam insulation the size of a small briefcase broke off from the main propellant tank and struck the leading edge of the left wing.

The impact of the foam hitting the front edge of the wing ... broke off

some of the #8 reinforced carbon-carbon tiles on the lead edge of Shuttle’s wing.

Now, while this damage didn’t cause any trouble during its 16 day orbit in space, it was responsible for the break-up of the Shuttle during its return to earth.

You see, the missing tiles on the wing weren’t needed in the coldness of outer space. But, they were definitely needed to be in place during the Shuttle’s re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere ...

to protect the shuttle from the searing 2,800 degree heat

that re-entry friction creates on the surface of the Shuttle.

And so with some protective tiles missing ... super-hot gases penetrated the wing and burned up the hydraulics, the tires, the controllers, and finally the wing structure itself ... and the shuttle simply disintegrated in the air!

Without protection from those special tiles, the Columbia exploded from the heat.

7 astronauts died and a Billion Dollar vehicle was destroyed … all because

 it wasn’t able to endure the burning heat of entry ... into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Today our Scripture Readings warn us ... that we too might be destroyed ...

if we’re not able to endure the burning heat of entry ... into the presence of God!

Why would this be a possibility?

Here we need to consider the description of God given in Hebrews, namely:

 “Our God is a consuming fire.”

which gives us an image of God as being ... a flaming inferno of fire!

Recall that it was tongues of fire that appeared over the heads of the Apostles

when God shared His Spirit with them at Pentecost!

So ... if God is ... a consuming fire …then ... the question is,

“How will we fare ... when we come into ... the presence of God?”

In our First Reading today, the Prophet Malachi points out...

that people will fare differently in the presence of God. He says,

“Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers

will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire.”

Yes, stubble … dry lifeless stubble … in the presence of fire burns quickly!

So if the proud and evildoers are as stubble before the Fire of God’s love,

then they will be burned up … disintegrated so to speak …

when they come into His fiery presence!

Malachi continues, “But for you who fear (His) name,

there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.”

We can readily relate to these words because we know what happens

whenever we go out in the summer sun.

Those who are wearing the proper sunscreen protection can happily bask in the sun for hours ... enjoying its brightness and its warmth without any bad effects.

But those who are not wearing the proper sunscreen protection, will quickly be burned by the rays of the sun and will later suffer with pain and peeling of skin.

It’s the same sun ... but to some it warms... and to some it burns.

So knowing what happens in the presence of the S-u-n, the star in the sky ...

Malachi says it will be similar when we come into the presence of the S-o-n,

     the Just Judge of all.  

When will this happen?     That’s the question that everyone wants to know? 

In both the Old and New Testaments, people wondered about the Day … the Day of Judgment, the Day of the Lord, when God comes to judge the living and the dead.

How this will unfold remains a mystery. But we believe it will surely happen

because of other predictions made in the Bible that have come true.

For example, today Jesus predicts that The Temple that the people are admiring ...  

in all of its size and grandeur ... would one day be brought to rubble.

He says, “All that you see here - the days will come when

    there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”

That was an unbelievable prediction, given that it took the Jews

46 years to build the Temple ...

and yet, within 40 years of Jesus saying those words,

the Romans took over Jerusalem and completely destroyed the Temple!

When St. Luke wrote his Gospel in the year 85, he knew that the prediction Jesus made today about the Temple in the year 33 actually came true in the year 70 ... and so he includes it to give credibility to Jesus’ other predictions about the end times.

Jesus also speaks about wars, and earthquakes, and famines and plagues

occurring all around the world as precursors to the end of the world.

and add to those calamities ... hurricanes ... tornadoes ... and ... forest fires.

It’s obvious that these things are happening today ... with increasing regularity.

So, the end of the world may be coming soon.    We may or may not get to see it.

But one thing we will definitely get to experience is ... the end of our lives.

Then ... instead of God coming to us ... we will go to God.

And in doing so, we will come into the presence of ... a consuming fire!

And then the question is ... will we ... be burned up like stubble

        or will we ... bask in the warmth of God’s love?

That all depends on how we’ve been living our lives.

If our hands are full of the good deeds we’ve done for God and others,

if we’ve embraced the 7^th Gift of the Holy Spirit and developed a Holy Fear of God,

and if we’ve put on our S-O-N screen by clothing ourselves in Christ ...

then we’ll be well protected ... and being in God’s presence ... will warm us!

If however, we’ve done evil deeds and have not been pleasing in God’s eyes;

if we’ve been proud, arrogant, self-righteous and distaining of God’s love;

if we’ve abandoned a loving relationship with Jesus and not sought His mercy...

then we’ll not be protected ... and being in God’s presence ... will set us on fire!

So the question is, “What can you do now?  

What can you do ... to increase your chances of coming through ...

      the Day of the Lord?

The best thing you can do is to respond as NASA did ...

and make regular inspections … not of a shuttle … but of your soul!

You need to look for any damage that will prevent you from withstanding ...

the fire of God’s love.

You may know that NASA constantly runs checks as it counts down to a launch ...

and has many times delayed a lift-off after finding ...

   a leaky valve, a bad sensor, or a crack that could have jeopardized the flight.

And, they immediately took the time to fix the problems before launch ...

But they had no way to fix a problem of damage that occurred after launch: we do!

On the day of our Baptism, we are mission ready ... ready to stand in the presence of God. Then we need to do inspection & repair of our souls along the way

Looking inward, we need to honestly assess the condition of our spiritual lives,

to identify the things that are missing and

give attention to those areas that need to be repaired

in order to stand in the presence of God.

What habits in my life need to be changed?

What relationships in my life need to be mended?

In our Second Reading, St. Paul urges us to imitate him.

He says, “We did not act in a disorderly way among you … on the contrary,

in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked.”

That’s what we’re called to do … to complete our mission. What is our mission?

To live in love with God and others here so that we can live forever in Heaven!

In our Gospel, Jesus encourages us to complete our mission ... in the face of all kinds of troubles ... and rest assured that He will help us ... in our time of trial.

He says today, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

The last thing we want to do is to disintegrate after our short mission here on earth.

Rather, we want to bring our souls to a safe landing in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Recall that Space Shuttle Columbia did ok cruising through the coolness of space

even though it was broken. But when it experienced the heat ... it disintegrated!

Don’t be fooled if you’re cruising through a comfortable life on Earth.

That’s nothing compared to being in the presence of God ... a consuming fire.  

Make sure your protection is in place, and everything that is broken has been fixed!

Because only by clothing yourself in Christ, will you be able to go on living ...

in the fire of God’s love.